University of Richmond School of Law

The T. C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond (Richmond Law) is a school of the University of Richmond, located in Richmond, Virginia. Richmond Law is ranked 58th (tie) in the US by US News,[3] among the top five value law schools by the National Jurist,[4] and one of the Princeton Review's 167 Best Law Schools of 2018.[5]

T. C. Williams School of Law
Parent schoolUniversity of Richmond
Established1870
School typePrivate
DeanWendy C. Perdue
LocationRichmond, Virginia, USA
37°34′38″N 77°32′19″W
Enrollment~500[1]
USNWR ranking52nd (2020)[2]
Websitewww.law.richmond.edu
ABA profileABA Profile

With approximately 150 J.D. candidates per class year, the University of Richmond School of Law has full accreditation by all recognized standardizing agencies in the United States on the American Bar Association registry.[6] Richmond Law's Dean, Wendy Perdue, is also a former president of the Association of American Law Schools.[7]

Richmond Law is regionally accredited by the Virginia State Board of Bar Examiners,[6] and is the #1 alma mater of judges in the state.[4] Richmond Law is among Above the Law's top ten Law Schools of the South.[8] Located near the border of America's cultural demarcation line, the University of Richmond campus can be found on 350 acres (1.4 km2) located about six miles (10 km) west of the center of the city of Richmond, Virginia.

History
The Entrance to the School of Law

The school was founded in 1870 as a college within the University of Richmond. In 1890, the family of the late T.C. Williams, a university trustee, donated $25,000 as the nucleus of an endowment for the law school. In recognition of this gift, the school was named The T.C. Williams School of Law in 1920. In recent years, the school has adopted the name "University of Richmond School of Law" in order to promote a unified identity for the university.

In 1914, Richmond College (as the university was then known), including its law department, moved from its location downtown to the present campus. Returning servicemen from World War I created space problems for the college and the law department had to be relocated to the old Columbia Building at Grace and Lombardy streets. In 1920, the law department was reorganized as a separate School of Law within what was now the University of Richmond.[9]

The current Law School building, constructed in the Collegiate Gothic architectural style, was originally opened in 1954, and it was enlarged in 1972 and 1981. In 1991, the building was significantly expanded, renovated, and refurbished. The Law School building now provides modern and technologically equipped classrooms, seminar rooms, a law library, a moot courtroom, faculty and administrative offices, faculty and student lounges, and offices for most student organizations.

The Richmond School of Law was ranked 54th in the 2021 ranking of law schools by U.S. News and World Report.[10] According to US News, the school has 440 students with a student-to-faculty ratio of 7.7:1.[11]

Cost of attendance

The total cost of attendance (indicating the cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses) at Richmond Law for the 2020-21 academic year is $67,550.[12] The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years, based on data from the 2020-21 academic year, is $202,650.[13] For the 2018-2019 school year, 67% of entering students received scholarships. The 50th percentile grant amount of scholarships was $35,000 .[14]

Employment

According to Richmond School of Law's official 2018 ABA-required disclosures, 85% of the Class of 2018 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation.[15] Richmond's Law School Transparency under-employment score is 11%, indicating the percentage of the Class of 2018 unemployed, pursuing an additional degree, or working in a non-professional, short-term, or part-time job nine months after graduation.[16]


Initiatives

Richmond Law has recently launched several new initiatives focusing on expanding areas of the law such as intellectual property, wrongful convictions and family law. The school is making a strong push to become a center for intellectual property law, as evidenced by the recent founding of the Intellectual Property Institute (IPI) and the offering of a joint degree program with Virginia Tech that will enable students to earn both a Bachelor of Science degree and a law degree in as little as six years’ time. Through the IPI, Richmond law students are able to obtain a certificate of concentration in Intellectual Property Law.

The Institute for Actual Innocence, founded in 2005, works to identify and exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Institute is an academic program that partners students with local attorneys and community leaders to seek post-conviction relief for wrongfully convicted prisoners in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Three days before leaving office, President Obama commuted Dujuan Farrow's life sentence after the Institute for Actual Innocence submitted his case for clemency review.[17]

Furthermore, the school is working to establish the National Center for Family Law, which will serve the best interests of families and children through academic and service programs dedicated to enhancement of the quality of the American legal system in relation to family law.

University of Richmond Law Review

The University of Richmond Law Review, founded in 1958, publishes four issues a year: the Annual Survey in November, the Symposium Issue in March, and two general issues in January and May. In addition, since 2015, the Law Review has published an online volume each year, and launched a podcast in 2020. Staff members are selected at the end of their first year of law school after participating in a journal competition, which takes into consideration students’ grades and the results of a casenote and Bluebook exam.

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The Richmond Public Interest Law Review (PILR) is a law review published by the University of Richmond School of Law. The Journal, formerly known as the Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest, vol. 1 (1996) - vol. 19 (2016), is the scholarly voice for issues pertaining to social welfare, public policy, and a broad spectrum of jurisprudence.

PILR strives to produce a variety of articles addressing contemporary, controversial, and thought-provoking issues of either regional or national importance. Past authors include experienced practitioners, esteemed legal academics, concerned and motivated law students, and insightful advocates working to change the world around them both regionally and nationally.

Publishing three annual volumes, PILR posts its articles and other related content online to reach the widest audience possible. Of these annual publications, two volumes specifically attempt to confront prominent and difficult issues raised by modern society:

  • The General Assembly in Review issue, an annual print volume focused exclusively on the legislative work of the Virginia General Assembly and its implications for the Commonwealth's citizens and future. Past topics have included discussions regarding state legislation aimed at reproductive rights, religious freedom, lyme disease, the reformation of ethics and conflict of interest laws, mental health court systems, and the sexual victimization of incarcerated juveniles; and
  • The PILR Symposium issue, touching on contemporary social welfare issues and controversial topics relating to our nation's public interest. Past topics have confronted challenging issues in the areas of veteran's law, privacy rights and the regulation of sexuality, gender equality in the twenty-first century, and wrongful convictions.

Richmond Journal of Law and Technology

The Richmond Journal of Law and Technology (JOLT) is a law review published by the School of Law. It was the first student-edited law review in the world to be published exclusively online.[18]

First published on April 10, 1995, the Journal focused on the impact of computer-related and other emerging technologies on the law. Today, JOLT publishes four issues per year containing a variety of technology-related articles including traditional intellectual property issues, telecommunication law, biotechnology, computer law, and emerging areas of constitutional law. Additionally, the Journal publishes an annual survey concerning the emerging issues in Electronic Discovery. Every two years, JOLT hosts the Richard P. Klau Law and Technology Student Writing Competition.

Notable faculty
  • Ronald J. Bacigal - Specializes in Criminal Law and Procedure. He also serves as Reporter of Criminal Decisions for the Court of Appeals of Virginia[19]
  • Harry L. Carrico - Senior Justice, Supreme Court of Virginia; Visiting Professor of Law and Civic Engagement; Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Judge, 1956–1961
  • James Comey - former Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation; former Deputy Attorney General; former United States Attorney, 4th Circuit; former United States Attorney, 1st Circuit[20]
  • Marla Decker - Chief Judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals; former Virginia Secretary of Public Safety
  • Tim Kaine - United States Senator, Virginia; former Governor of Virginia, 2005; former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, 2001; former Mayor of Richmond, 1998
  • Donald W. Lemons - Supreme Court of Virginia, Justice, 2000–present; Court of Appeals of Virginia, Judge, 1998-2000; Circuit Court for the City of Richmond, Judge, 1995–98; John Marshall Professor of Judicial Studies[21]
  • Harold G. Wren (1921-2016) - dean of three law schools

Notable alumni

References
  1. University of Richmond School of Law: Fast Facts
  2. "Richmond Law". Best Law Schools – U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  3. https://www.usnews.com/usnews/store/law_school_compass.htm?src=lockl&ref=/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/university-of-richmond-williams-03161
  4. http://www.nationaljurist.com/law-schools/university-of-richmond
  5. http://www.princetonreview.com/schools/1037682/law/university-richmond-school-law
  6. Accreditation – University of Richmond
  7. https://www.aals.org/aals-newsroom/aals-announces-2018-leadership/
  8. http://abovethelaw.com/2013/04/comparing-the-law-schools-of-the-south/
  9. University of Richmond School of Law: History
  11. "University of Richmond". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  12. "Cost of Attendance".
  13. "University of Richmond Profile".
  14. "Scholarships and Financial Aid".
  15. "Employment Summary for 2018 Graduates" (PDF).
  16. "University of Richmond Profile".
  17. Frank, Green (29 January 2017). "UR Law School students help win presidential commutation of life sentence". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  18. "About". University of Richmond School of Law/. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  19. http://law.richmond.edu/faculty/rbacigal.php
  20. Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey The White House. (no date). Retrieved May 18, 2007
  21. http://law.richmond.edu/faculty/lemons.php
  22. "Watkins Moorman Abbitt". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  23. "WARD LYNN ARMSTRONG'S BIOGRAPHY". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  24. "Leon M. (Leon Maurice) Bazile Papers, 1826–1967MSS1 B3483 a FA2". Virginia Historical Society. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  25. Miller, Hsiaolei. "University of Richmond School of Law". Above the Law. Retrieved 2017-05-09.
  26. Peters, Jeremy W.; Feuer, Alan (2020-12-03). "How Is Trump's Lawyer Jenna Ellis 'Elite Strike Force' Material?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  27. "Alumni News". Richmond The Alumni Magazine. Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  28. "Attorney General Biography". Office of the Attorney General of Virginia. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  29. "The Honorable Lawrence L. Koontz - University of Richmond School" (PDF). University of Richmond. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  30. "REPRESENTATIVE G. MANOLI LOUPASSI'S BIOGRAPHY". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  31. "Biographical Directory of Federal Judges: Merhige, Robert Reynold Jr.,". Federal judicial Center. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  32. "Nathan H. Miller". Virginia House of Delegates. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  33. "Faculty Resources - Faculty Recognition: The A. L. Philpott Adjunct Chair in Law". University of Richmond. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  34. "PICKETT, Owen Bradford, (1930 - 2010)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  35. "ROBERTSON, Absalom Willis, (1887 - 1971)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  36. "Biographical Directory of Federal Judges: Schlesinger, Harvey Erwin,". Federal judicial Center. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  37. "Scholarships Awarded by the School of Law". Richmond School of Law. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  38. McConnell, Jim (September 16, 2020). "Tony Pham's story: From refugee to head of ICE". Chesterfield Observer.


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